sacudir

Forms

sacudir (first-person singular present sacudo, third-person singular present sacode, first-person singular preterite sacudi, past participle sacudido)^[1] Houaiss records sacude in the 13th century, sacudir, sacodirás and sacudyo in the 14th, and ssacudir in the 15th.^[2] A letter of 1722 still writes sacodir.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin succutiō (“to shake from below, jolt”), written Old Galician-Portuguese sacudir in the oldest texts.^[2][4][1] The first vowel is explained by dissimilation of the two /u/ of the Latin verb.^[2][5][6] For Spanish, Corominas describes the same steps: socodir became sacodir by dissimilation, and then took its modern form.^[7]

The same Latin verb is Galician sacudir, Spanish sacudir and French secouer, the French word a remodelling of Old French secorre.^[8][9][1]

The verb is formed from Latin sub- (“under”) + quatiō (“to shake”).^[1][10] The origin of the simple verb is disputed.^[1][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss and Cunha date the verb to the 13th century, Houaiss's first record being the form sacude “shakes”.^[2][4] In Spanish, Berceo already uses sacudir for shaking off iron fetters.^[8][7]

Semantic evolution

The dictionaries record the physical sense first: Cardoso in 1569 and Barbosa in 1611 gloss the verb with Latin words for shaking and shaking out.^[12][13] Bluteau in 1712 defines it as moving something with force and in jerks, so that it moves or what is on it falls off, as when a garment is shaken to get the dust out.^[14]

Figurative senses followed: to drive away or reject, to shake someone's feelings, to stir up interest.^[2][15] Reflexive sacudir-se is to sway the body in dancing, and in jocular European Portuguese to take oneself off.^[2] In Rio Grande do Sul the verb also means to throw (sacudir as bolas, to throw the bolas).^[16]

Timeline

• 13th century – the form sacude.^[2]
• 14th century – sacudir, sacodirás, sacudyo.^[2]
• 1450 – the Livro das tres vertudes has the verb.^[17]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary glosses it with Latin concutio.^[12]
• 1712 – Bluteau gives the example of shaking a garment to remove dust.^[14]
• 1722 – the spelling sacodir in a private letter.^[3]
• 1844 – first record of the derivative sacudidela.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To shake hard and repeatedly; to make tremble, to jolt: o terramoto sacudiu a cidade.^[2][6][1]
2. To wave or move from side to side: sacudir a bandeira.^[2][18]
3. To clean by shaking or beating: sacudir o capacho.^[2][15]
4. To shake off, throw off or knock down: to shake a tree so that the fruit falls.^[2][19]
5. (figurative) To drive away, get rid of; to expel.^[2][15]
6. (figurative) To move deeply, to stir; to rouse, stimulate.^[2][19]
7. (reflexive) To sway the body, to wiggle in dancing (saracotear-se).^[2][15]
8. (reflexive, Portugal, jocular) To go off, take oneself away.^[2]

Word family

• sacudidela
• sacudido

Related words

• sucussão
• percutir
• Spanish sacudir

Usage notes

The European phrase sacudir a água do capote “to shake the water off one's cloak” means to dodge a responsibility.^[19]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. sacudir
3. ^ a b CLUL (ed.) (2014), P.S. Post Scriptum: Arquivo Digital de Escrita Quotidiana em Portugal e Espanha na Época Moderna, Lisboa: Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, http://ps.clul.ul.pt, p. s.v. sacudir
4. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. sacudir
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. sacudir
6. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. sacudir
7. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. sacudir
8. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 123
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. secouer
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. succutio
11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
12. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. sacudir
13. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. sacudir
14. ^ a b Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. sacudir
15. ^ a b c d Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. sacudir
16. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. 2
17. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. sacudir
18. ^ Aulete, Francisco Júlio Caldas, Dicionário contemporâneo da língua portuguesa (1st ed. 1881), online as Aulete Digital, Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, https://aulete.com.br, p. s.v. sacudir
19. ^ a b c Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 8232